dimanche 25 décembre 2011
Merry Christmas to all!
Best wishes to all the grinders out there, and best of luck to those still grinding Supernova/Supernova Elite!
jeudi 17 novembre 2011
The softest games i've ever seen!
This is a new site that opened Tuesday the 15th, High Pulse poker. They have a great deposit bonus, a ton of freerolls to build your roll and up to 50% rakeback from day one, but this isn't the reason i'm so amazed by this site. The goldmine is that it has the fishiest games i've ever seen, even at the NL25, NL50 and NL100 levels.
We're talking 2005 Partypoker fish, never folding an ace, calling reraises out of position with KTo and stacking off any pair, all that good stuff. I've played a couple thousands hands so far and I just can't believe it. I was playing 5-handed yesterday and it was me, 2 fish and 2 whales. After playing the tough games on Stars for the past 2 years, this is just a walk in the park.
I think one of the reason the site is so fishy at the moment is that they gave over 1 million euros in freerolls during the beta, money which was only released on Tuesday when the site went gold. This means all the fish that won a part of that million euro is now spending it on the site (and then some!). Perhaps their marketing has found a nice pond of euro-fish as well. Either way, it's all good :)
If you guys decide to take advantage of this opportunity, i'd appreciate it if you use this link to register, as I get a bonus for referrals. Simply use referal code "HTWOTF" when you sign up.Thanks and happy fishing!
http://highpulsepoker.com/cgi-bin/sc.pl?hpaffcode=HTWOTF
We're talking 2005 Partypoker fish, never folding an ace, calling reraises out of position with KTo and stacking off any pair, all that good stuff. I've played a couple thousands hands so far and I just can't believe it. I was playing 5-handed yesterday and it was me, 2 fish and 2 whales. After playing the tough games on Stars for the past 2 years, this is just a walk in the park.
I think one of the reason the site is so fishy at the moment is that they gave over 1 million euros in freerolls during the beta, money which was only released on Tuesday when the site went gold. This means all the fish that won a part of that million euro is now spending it on the site (and then some!). Perhaps their marketing has found a nice pond of euro-fish as well. Either way, it's all good :)
If you guys decide to take advantage of this opportunity, i'd appreciate it if you use this link to register, as I get a bonus for referrals. Simply use referal code "HTWOTF" when you sign up.Thanks and happy fishing!
http://highpulsepoker.com/cgi-bin/sc.pl?hpaffcode=HTWOTF
lundi 14 novembre 2011
M-m-m-m-m-m-m-monster year end session!
Another year, another Supernova. Lost it briefly in October (was at 93k VPPs when September ended) but after a few weeks of on-and-off, it was time to finish this Athene Grindmode Style!
YEAAAA!
My longest session yet, by far! My head is still spinning, but i'm really happy to get Supernova for the second year in a row. I'm even more amazed that I managed to finish the session with a positive winrate! (screw all-in EV, lol). Pretty happy I did it at 50NL instead of 100NL, or I would have most likely ended up losing quite a bit of money in the process.
I'm starting my master's degree in January so I won't have as much time for poker, but after a session like this, I know I can always get some monster sessions crunch-time near the end of the month if I need a little extra boost to keep Supernova going, so i'm not too concerned about maintaining it next year.
This pretty much closes the year for me. I still have about 28k hands to go to get my first 4,000$ FPP bonus (which was delayed over and over all year long!). It feels like i've been running after that one for so long, i'm very happy to have it as my year-end trophy for 2011. This year has brought a lot of ups and downs but i'm still pretty happy with how it all went down. Good luck to grinders still finishing the year, and here's to a pokeriffic 2012!
lundi 7 novembre 2011
Still in da gaimz!
Whew, feels like it's been a while since i've been here. After a pretty busy month life-wise, i'm ready to get back into DA GAIMZ! Starting my master's degree in January and i'm pretty psyched about it! This will mean poker will return to part-time, although it's not like I was getting that much more volume in playing "full-time".
I finished reading up Dynamic Full-Ring Poker : http://www.amazon.com/Dynamic-Full-Ring-Poker-Beyond/dp/0982402295/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320681808&sr=8-1 and it is well worth the price tag. I feel much more solid now, and i'm playing great, but we'll see for sure after a healthy sample.
Unfortunately I lost Supernova (why it doesn't extend all the way to December if you maintain pace is beyond me) but I will get it back shortly (about 5k VPPs short atm). I'm very happy to get Supernova a second year in a row. This may not be a huge accomplishment for some of the mega grinders but I still think it's a status that differentiates the "serious" players from the amateurs so i'm very satisfied with my game in that regards.
So far the games at 50NL seem a lot softer than 100NL, with very solid regs far and few in-between. Things are looking great both in life and poker, and i'm looking forward to finishing the year strong. Happy grinding!
I finished reading up Dynamic Full-Ring Poker : http://www.amazon.com/Dynamic-Full-Ring-Poker-Beyond/dp/0982402295/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320681808&sr=8-1 and it is well worth the price tag. I feel much more solid now, and i'm playing great, but we'll see for sure after a healthy sample.
Unfortunately I lost Supernova (why it doesn't extend all the way to December if you maintain pace is beyond me) but I will get it back shortly (about 5k VPPs short atm). I'm very happy to get Supernova a second year in a row. This may not be a huge accomplishment for some of the mega grinders but I still think it's a status that differentiates the "serious" players from the amateurs so i'm very satisfied with my game in that regards.
So far the games at 50NL seem a lot softer than 100NL, with very solid regs far and few in-between. Things are looking great both in life and poker, and i'm looking forward to finishing the year strong. Happy grinding!
jeudi 22 septembre 2011
Willpower is a finite resource
I just finished reading a quick Q&A with the author of "Willpower" over at the Freakonomics blog : http://www.freakonomics.com/2011/09/22/the-authors-of-willpower-answer-your-questions/ and one interesting question jumped out for me :
With my current pace, I should finish the year at about 120k VPPs, quite a bit less than I initially planned. Thus, it's time for a little introspection. After all, poker is all about playing the hand we're dealt as best we can, not the hand we wish we had. After two years of data, the conclusion I have to draw is that mass grinding isn't for me.
The good news is that I can still make poker work for me as a great second job, maintaining Supernova with relative ease playing 40-50k hands a month. Even by dropping from 24 to 12-16 tables, this is a pace that's fairly easy for me to maintain. This will free up energy I can dedicate elsewhere in life ; starting in January i'm going back to college and starting my Master's degree.
That little Q&A gave me some insight as to probably why my poker volume evolved this way. Although willpower is a finite resource, i've come to realize that different tasks drain it in different ways. Add/bpd certainly don't help, in that managing my mood drains a significant amount of energy, and poker only makes it that much more taxing. On the other hand, i'm very happy with myself in a lot of other vital areas of my life ; relationships, fitness and eating habits being the most important to me.
However I still believe I can do quite well with poker in the long run, since players like Mike Matusow have overcome these obstacles and went on to be very succesful. Thus, it's time to change my attack plan ; reduce the number of tables, play a bit less volume/month, but focus much harder on playing well. When you can't play more, the only way to make more money is to play better. I spent the last few weeks off the tables completely and going through Dynamic Full Ring poker, an excellent book.
Armed with extensive note-taking and study material, I should be back at the tables, sharper than ever, in about a week. I'm pretty psyched and looking forward to it! So take this for what it's worth, and realize that whatever your situation is, there's always hope for your game if you're always willing to get back up, no matter how many times you fall. Good luck at the tables (and in life)!
Q.Is willpower a single commodity (so to speak), or is there, as I suspect, a one type of willpower for, say, dieting, another one for academic study, another for this, another for that? -AaronS
A.No, there’s just one single resource (or commodity). There’s one source of mental energy for resisting temptation and performing other acts of self-control, and this willpower is also depleted by making decisions. What you experience may reflect the fact that willpower is limited and so people have to allocate it: they use it at the office to work effectively and diligently, but have messy homes and are short-tempered in the evening. Or people who show wonderful self-control at dealing with personal relationships but can’t seem to meet their deadlines.
This got me thinking about my own situation. As the year went by (and still goes by), i've noticed something rather stunning about my poker habits ; I played about the same volume this year, with literally no other work-related obligations, as I did last year, when I studied full time.With my current pace, I should finish the year at about 120k VPPs, quite a bit less than I initially planned. Thus, it's time for a little introspection. After all, poker is all about playing the hand we're dealt as best we can, not the hand we wish we had. After two years of data, the conclusion I have to draw is that mass grinding isn't for me.
The good news is that I can still make poker work for me as a great second job, maintaining Supernova with relative ease playing 40-50k hands a month. Even by dropping from 24 to 12-16 tables, this is a pace that's fairly easy for me to maintain. This will free up energy I can dedicate elsewhere in life ; starting in January i'm going back to college and starting my Master's degree.
That little Q&A gave me some insight as to probably why my poker volume evolved this way. Although willpower is a finite resource, i've come to realize that different tasks drain it in different ways. Add/bpd certainly don't help, in that managing my mood drains a significant amount of energy, and poker only makes it that much more taxing. On the other hand, i'm very happy with myself in a lot of other vital areas of my life ; relationships, fitness and eating habits being the most important to me.
However I still believe I can do quite well with poker in the long run, since players like Mike Matusow have overcome these obstacles and went on to be very succesful. Thus, it's time to change my attack plan ; reduce the number of tables, play a bit less volume/month, but focus much harder on playing well. When you can't play more, the only way to make more money is to play better. I spent the last few weeks off the tables completely and going through Dynamic Full Ring poker, an excellent book.
Armed with extensive note-taking and study material, I should be back at the tables, sharper than ever, in about a week. I'm pretty psyched and looking forward to it! So take this for what it's worth, and realize that whatever your situation is, there's always hope for your game if you're always willing to get back up, no matter how many times you fall. Good luck at the tables (and in life)!
lundi 8 août 2011
Always nice to have a little refresher
As poker adepts, we go over so much material, concepts and study that sometimes, we forget some of the stuff that helped us out in the beginning. With this in mind, here's a couple things that I had not touched in years that I went over recently and I felt helped me out.
First of all, "Playing to Win", basically Sun Tzu's Art of War for modern day gamers. I first read this and applied it to FPS & MMOs back in the days and going over it again sharpened my blade, so to speak. A very good book for focus, discipline and the proper mindset you need to develop to become a dedicated winner at your game : http://www.amazon.com/Playing-Win-Becoming-David-Sirlin/dp/1411666798/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1312830810&sr=8-1
What can a 2NL player teach you? Probably not how to balance your river check-raise range, but i've seen adepts lose sight of the more fundamental insights that serious beginning players have. Some of you may scoff at the simplicity of these clips, but getting this stuff right is so important (and to be honest, there's some days where I still misapply this stuff) that I feel it deserves mention :
Playing poker to learn, not to make money. Despite making good money, I still think that even after almost 2 years and a million hands later, seeing every single session as a learning experience is VERY important to keep improving (at least to me!). Even though I feel my game is the highest it's ever been, playing to learn is probably one of the most important point that keeps me going in every session as energized and focused on getting better as I can be : http://friendlyp.ning.com/video/inner-game-4-poker-nubs-play?id=2437628%3AVideo%3A42299&page=2#comments
Accept the realities of poker : http://friendlyp.ning.com/video/inner-game-for-poker-noobs
Poker is not about how you win, it's about how you lose : http://friendlyp.ning.com/video/inner-game-4-poker-nubs-3
Keeping your brain healthy for poker : http://friendlyp.ning.com/video/how-to-take-care-of-your-brain
Last but not least is a classic and has been one of the pivotal tools in my poker journey : the concept of the week series in the micro FR forum. Every so often I like to browse a couple of those threads, just to make sure I didn't forget anything. I feel like I have a solid grasp on most of the stuff there, but every so often I find a gem I missed or that I had forgotten : http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/78/micro-stakes-full-ring/concept-week-schedule-table-contents-397190/
Sometimes I get a little discouraged when I look at how much I still have to learn, but when I look back and see just how far i've gotten, it makes me pretty proud of my achievements. Finally, results-wise I should hit Supernova again near the end of month and finally cash in on my first 4k bonus, FTW! (should have been waaaay before but I blew a lot of FPPs on 650$'s and 1500$'s in the past). Currently behind pace for 200K VPP this year but I think there's still hope. Keep working hard, grinders, and good luck at the tables!
First of all, "Playing to Win", basically Sun Tzu's Art of War for modern day gamers. I first read this and applied it to FPS & MMOs back in the days and going over it again sharpened my blade, so to speak. A very good book for focus, discipline and the proper mindset you need to develop to become a dedicated winner at your game : http://www.amazon.com/Playing-Win-Becoming-David-Sirlin/dp/1411666798/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1312830810&sr=8-1
What can a 2NL player teach you? Probably not how to balance your river check-raise range, but i've seen adepts lose sight of the more fundamental insights that serious beginning players have. Some of you may scoff at the simplicity of these clips, but getting this stuff right is so important (and to be honest, there's some days where I still misapply this stuff) that I feel it deserves mention :
Playing poker to learn, not to make money. Despite making good money, I still think that even after almost 2 years and a million hands later, seeing every single session as a learning experience is VERY important to keep improving (at least to me!). Even though I feel my game is the highest it's ever been, playing to learn is probably one of the most important point that keeps me going in every session as energized and focused on getting better as I can be : http://friendlyp.ning.com/video/inner-game-4-poker-nubs-play?id=2437628%3AVideo%3A42299&page=2#comments
Accept the realities of poker : http://friendlyp.ning.com/video/inner-game-for-poker-noobs
Poker is not about how you win, it's about how you lose : http://friendlyp.ning.com/video/inner-game-4-poker-nubs-3
Keeping your brain healthy for poker : http://friendlyp.ning.com/video/how-to-take-care-of-your-brain
Last but not least is a classic and has been one of the pivotal tools in my poker journey : the concept of the week series in the micro FR forum. Every so often I like to browse a couple of those threads, just to make sure I didn't forget anything. I feel like I have a solid grasp on most of the stuff there, but every so often I find a gem I missed or that I had forgotten : http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/78/micro-stakes-full-ring/concept-week-schedule-table-contents-397190/
Sometimes I get a little discouraged when I look at how much I still have to learn, but when I look back and see just how far i've gotten, it makes me pretty proud of my achievements. Finally, results-wise I should hit Supernova again near the end of month and finally cash in on my first 4k bonus, FTW! (should have been waaaay before but I blew a lot of FPPs on 650$'s and 1500$'s in the past). Currently behind pace for 200K VPP this year but I think there's still hope. Keep working hard, grinders, and good luck at the tables!
vendredi 1 juillet 2011
Even Steven
Poker can be a humbling experience at times, and it certainly felt that way when I looked back on my year so far :
Fortunately, by 24-tabling I was able to maintain a decent hourly as a rakeback pro, which is certainly better than losing. I wish I could blame this on bad luck but over 300k+ hands, poker is a fair mistress and you get what you deserve. Laziness and wishful thinking brought me to this, and if I want it to change, there's only one thing to do.
I've had much better results in the past and looking back it's pretty easy to see what went wrong. I pretty much stopped studying altogheter, sat on my laurels and hoped the good times would still roll. Fortunately, with a simple decision, and a solid commitment to improving, one can change his poker results dramatically, and this is exactly what I plan to do going forward.
Even though i've faced this issue time and time again, it seems I have trouble accepting the fact that in poker, if you stop improving, you decline. I see now (and hope I will remember) that nothing is ever truly acquired in poker and you are never due anything. Nothing but constant hard work on and off the tables will bring success, up to the very last day you play poker.
Thus I post this now to remind myself of this simple poker truth. One of the things I love most about poker (unlike many "real" jobs) is that you get exactly what you deserve. Going forward, I will make sure I do absolutely everything I can to reach the level of success I know I can achieve. Good luck at the tables everyone, and stay hungry!
Fortunately, by 24-tabling I was able to maintain a decent hourly as a rakeback pro, which is certainly better than losing. I wish I could blame this on bad luck but over 300k+ hands, poker is a fair mistress and you get what you deserve. Laziness and wishful thinking brought me to this, and if I want it to change, there's only one thing to do.
I've had much better results in the past and looking back it's pretty easy to see what went wrong. I pretty much stopped studying altogheter, sat on my laurels and hoped the good times would still roll. Fortunately, with a simple decision, and a solid commitment to improving, one can change his poker results dramatically, and this is exactly what I plan to do going forward.
Even though i've faced this issue time and time again, it seems I have trouble accepting the fact that in poker, if you stop improving, you decline. I see now (and hope I will remember) that nothing is ever truly acquired in poker and you are never due anything. Nothing but constant hard work on and off the tables will bring success, up to the very last day you play poker.
Thus I post this now to remind myself of this simple poker truth. One of the things I love most about poker (unlike many "real" jobs) is that you get exactly what you deserve. Going forward, I will make sure I do absolutely everything I can to reach the level of success I know I can achieve. Good luck at the tables everyone, and stay hungry!
lundi 13 juin 2011
Quick update
Quick poker update, as i've not played or posted a lot lately. I've mostly been dealing with RL stuff, as well as spending more time pokering "off the tables", working on my game, my routine, optimizing my days, etc. In April I was logging in and playing 5k hands straight, which was burning me out pretty quickly. Spent most of May tinkering with that and I think i've found a pretty optimal setting (for me anyway).
I ended up dividing my play in 1h40 chunks, so I usually start playing at about 10am, play 1h40, 10mins break for walking around/exercice, another 1h40, about 45mins off for lunch, and another 1h40. (Optional additional 10mins break and 1h40 after if I have time/energy). Nowadays I can pull off days like that and still have solid energy for the rest of my day so i'm pretty happy with it.
The only thing I still have to stabilize for peak performance is sleep and food. I used to be a big night owl so going to bed at 10h30-11h still feels annoying but any later than that and my alertness & energy suffer the next day, which is terrible for poker. Food is also a big deal on game days and I have to make sure I eat a big enough breakfast with constant snacking/drinking during play & on breaks.
Even though i'm not playing a lot lately, when I do pull it all off though it works pretty awesome, and i've gotten to a point where i'm really happy with my game as well, although that's a never ending process. Coaching helped, but the amount of homework I need to do to truly get the most out of it is pretty staggering to say the least!
Only thing left to figure out is how many days/week I want to play and how to split them up. Other than that i'm really happy with my progress (should hit Supernova again in early July). The most important thing for me is to keep poker fresh, stay hungry and always being eager to play and play at my best when I do log in, and so far those goals have been going great and i'm looking forward for more!
jeudi 5 mai 2011
Poker can be a frustrating game, post-february results
My goal going forward this year is to hit 300k VPP with a >0.5ptBB/100 winrate at 100NL. If I can manage only that, I will consider the year satisfactory as far as monies accumulated. Fortunately, i'm currently on pace for that :
However, it just feels like I could be doing so much better. I obviously have some big leaks, but I just can't seem to put my finger on the exact spot. With 2 downswings of 20+ BIs over this stretch, I feel like it's not just bad luck (obviously some variance, but still). One thing i've neglected a lot this year is poker study. With enough hands under my belt to analyze my play so far, a very solid database analysis is very much overdue.
Thus, i'll be taking a week off from the tables to focus hard on studying. Going back through most CoTWs, doing a serious digging in my database, along with a complete review with Leakbuster, watching videos, etc. I'm also looking for some coaching from serious, successful >2ptBB/100 over a ton of hands 100NL players, simply because I know where some of my big leaks are, but I just don't know exactly how to fix them properly, so I need a new perspective on my game.
Poker can be a frustrating game at times, but overall, i'm still very happy with my choice. I still enjoy the game a lot, even though it's a lot of hard work. To have real success, one must not neglect any aspect of poker & life : health (nutrition, exercice), knowledge (study, leak busting) and execution (applying knowledge properly, able to apply it well over long periods of time/many hands). I feel confident going forward!
However, it just feels like I could be doing so much better. I obviously have some big leaks, but I just can't seem to put my finger on the exact spot. With 2 downswings of 20+ BIs over this stretch, I feel like it's not just bad luck (obviously some variance, but still). One thing i've neglected a lot this year is poker study. With enough hands under my belt to analyze my play so far, a very solid database analysis is very much overdue.
Thus, i'll be taking a week off from the tables to focus hard on studying. Going back through most CoTWs, doing a serious digging in my database, along with a complete review with Leakbuster, watching videos, etc. I'm also looking for some coaching from serious, successful >2ptBB/100 over a ton of hands 100NL players, simply because I know where some of my big leaks are, but I just don't know exactly how to fix them properly, so I need a new perspective on my game.
Poker can be a frustrating game at times, but overall, i'm still very happy with my choice. I still enjoy the game a lot, even though it's a lot of hard work. To have real success, one must not neglect any aspect of poker & life : health (nutrition, exercice), knowledge (study, leak busting) and execution (applying knowledge properly, able to apply it well over long periods of time/many hands). I feel confident going forward!
mardi 3 mai 2011
My highest volume month yet
While it's not much compared to sick grinders, 85k hands is my highest volume month since I started playing on Stars in Nov 09. Most of my months hovered around 30-50k, with the exception of December which was at 84k with the end of year Supernova chase. The big difference however is that in this case, there was no 20k sessions marathons (with horrible losses at the tables).
This month has also been an interesting learning experience. I started the first 15k playing extremely laggy both pre and post. This resulted in a very big redline (and poor blue line) but allowed me to learn many spots where my game was lacking. I then cut most of the spew and started playing a very solid/aggressive game, with the results that go with it.
However, as is usually the case when I play solid for awhile, I try to fix imaginary leaks. While leak fixing is not bad in itself, whenever I start to read too many pro threads, I start trying to fix what's not broken. While I may be a little too tight in some spots, and some pros may be able to ecke out a small profit in those spots, in most cases these players are just a lot better than me so when I try to emulate them, I end up spewing massively.
Not only am I not actually fixing any leaks, i'm creating big ones by trying to be a playmaster. Another major pitfall for me is complacency at the tables. It's so easy to drift into weak-tight play if you're not vigilant (with big hits to redline & overall results, as in month's end). Staying very aggressive, especially in position, is so important that letting those small edges go can end up having a huge impact on your winrate.
Thus, I sat down and went through my month, thinking about what I did well and what I shouldn't have changed. I came to the conclusion that my results started declining when I lost sight of the basics in poker. Play very aggressive in position, tighten up out of position. Sounds dumb, but I was starting to do the opposite and it showed badly (becoming weak-tight in position and trying to playmaster out of position. leaking + spewing = sad bankroll).
It's pretty obvious when you think about it. What are the three edges in poker?
1) Hand strength
2) Skill
3) Position
One of my big leaks was overplaying marginal hands OOP against tough villains (even worse in 3b pots). While I like my progress and i'm fairly happy with my game, I know full well that there are many stronger villains than me at the tables. So if i'm playing a marginal hand out of position, i'm already out 2 fundamental edges, which means I need a very big skill edge to compensate. Against tough regs, my edge is at best slim and at worse crushed.
When you think about it this way, you have a very easy fold preflop, or check/fold postflop, even though the hand could be playable against a weaker opponent (bigger skill edge to make up for low hand strength and lack of position). Better to give up a couple additional tiny pots here and there than to spew massively by making huge blunders in big ones. The lesson here is to focus on what you do right. Do keep studying and do learn advanced moves. But if you lose sight of the basics, and especially if you overestimate your skill edge, your results will very rapidly decline. Thus, be honest with yourself and play according to the way things are, not as you wish they would be. Good luck at the tables!
This month has also been an interesting learning experience. I started the first 15k playing extremely laggy both pre and post. This resulted in a very big redline (and poor blue line) but allowed me to learn many spots where my game was lacking. I then cut most of the spew and started playing a very solid/aggressive game, with the results that go with it.
However, as is usually the case when I play solid for awhile, I try to fix imaginary leaks. While leak fixing is not bad in itself, whenever I start to read too many pro threads, I start trying to fix what's not broken. While I may be a little too tight in some spots, and some pros may be able to ecke out a small profit in those spots, in most cases these players are just a lot better than me so when I try to emulate them, I end up spewing massively.
Not only am I not actually fixing any leaks, i'm creating big ones by trying to be a playmaster. Another major pitfall for me is complacency at the tables. It's so easy to drift into weak-tight play if you're not vigilant (with big hits to redline & overall results, as in month's end). Staying very aggressive, especially in position, is so important that letting those small edges go can end up having a huge impact on your winrate.
Thus, I sat down and went through my month, thinking about what I did well and what I shouldn't have changed. I came to the conclusion that my results started declining when I lost sight of the basics in poker. Play very aggressive in position, tighten up out of position. Sounds dumb, but I was starting to do the opposite and it showed badly (becoming weak-tight in position and trying to playmaster out of position. leaking + spewing = sad bankroll).
It's pretty obvious when you think about it. What are the three edges in poker?
1) Hand strength
2) Skill
3) Position
One of my big leaks was overplaying marginal hands OOP against tough villains (even worse in 3b pots). While I like my progress and i'm fairly happy with my game, I know full well that there are many stronger villains than me at the tables. So if i'm playing a marginal hand out of position, i'm already out 2 fundamental edges, which means I need a very big skill edge to compensate. Against tough regs, my edge is at best slim and at worse crushed.
When you think about it this way, you have a very easy fold preflop, or check/fold postflop, even though the hand could be playable against a weaker opponent (bigger skill edge to make up for low hand strength and lack of position). Better to give up a couple additional tiny pots here and there than to spew massively by making huge blunders in big ones. The lesson here is to focus on what you do right. Do keep studying and do learn advanced moves. But if you lose sight of the basics, and especially if you overestimate your skill edge, your results will very rapidly decline. Thus, be honest with yourself and play according to the way things are, not as you wish they would be. Good luck at the tables!
mercredi 20 avril 2011
Finally getting some good volume in
It's been a while since my last update, lots going on lately but I have several new ideas for future blogs so fear not dear readers! (yes both of you!) The most important recent change has been my schedule. Ironically, I did the complete opposite of my last post and basically set up a fairly rigid routine for my sessions. Get up, have some breakfast, 5-10mins of breathing/meditation, load up tables and play until I reach 1500VPP (5-6k hands depending on days).
My pace used to be so abysmal that I had only setup a mere 200k VPP as a goal for the year (and was already behind pace at the end of March). Now i'm up to 5 days/week with this routine, on pace for the month, and aiming at 300k for the year! I'm very happy to finally have the motivation, discipline and mood to play seriously. To be honest, what made all the difference was an increase in medication (I suffer from type 2 bipolar disorder, mostly depression with mild mania. Funny coincidence, I just learned today that Catherine Zeta Jones struggles with the same problem).
The boost in energy, motivation and most importantly the massive reduction in mood swings (which really don't mix well with poker) have had a major impact on my poker schedule. To top it all off, I feel my game has reached a new peak. I tried a super-lag approach early in the month, not worrying too much about spew, just to test new things.
While I did spew quite a bit in there, I also picked up a lot of insight in the game, as well as a few new tricks. After that, I watched many videos, spent a lot of time going through my database to keep all the good stuff I learned while also cutting out the spew. Overall, I feel my hand reading and my game have never been better. To make things even sweeter, i've had my sickest day ever at the tables. I'll have more to add on this at month's end.
Until then, my condolences to all the US players, especially those who were full-time players and are now out of a job. Really feels like someone in the family just died. Hopefully things will work out quickly. Best of luck to all people affected by this and to those who fight for our rights as poker players. Keep your head up!
My pace used to be so abysmal that I had only setup a mere 200k VPP as a goal for the year (and was already behind pace at the end of March). Now i'm up to 5 days/week with this routine, on pace for the month, and aiming at 300k for the year! I'm very happy to finally have the motivation, discipline and mood to play seriously. To be honest, what made all the difference was an increase in medication (I suffer from type 2 bipolar disorder, mostly depression with mild mania. Funny coincidence, I just learned today that Catherine Zeta Jones struggles with the same problem).
The boost in energy, motivation and most importantly the massive reduction in mood swings (which really don't mix well with poker) have had a major impact on my poker schedule. To top it all off, I feel my game has reached a new peak. I tried a super-lag approach early in the month, not worrying too much about spew, just to test new things.
While I did spew quite a bit in there, I also picked up a lot of insight in the game, as well as a few new tricks. After that, I watched many videos, spent a lot of time going through my database to keep all the good stuff I learned while also cutting out the spew. Overall, I feel my hand reading and my game have never been better. To make things even sweeter, i've had my sickest day ever at the tables. I'll have more to add on this at month's end.
Until then, my condolences to all the US players, especially those who were full-time players and are now out of a job. Really feels like someone in the family just died. Hopefully things will work out quickly. Best of luck to all people affected by this and to those who fight for our rights as poker players. Keep your head up!
samedi 26 mars 2011
Adding flexibility to your sessions
March has been a pretty busy month IRL and i'm now playing catch up to finish up the month with a half decent hand count, despite a bad cold. My less than stellar state got me thinking about a few important issues that, if changed, could really add value to my game.
Up until now, i've always played with a very rigid structure. I'd get up, eat some breakfast, do some pre-session warm-up, load up 24 tables and play for about 5-6k hands. I've stuck to that because I knew it worked for me, and back in the days when confidence in my game was shaky, sticking to a rigid structure provided a nice safety blanket.
But much like opening hand ranges, if you stick to a static chart, you're really limiting your potential earn at the tables, so once you're comfortable with the basics, it's time to get dynamic and switch it up depending on game conditions. What does this mean in practical terms? Simply that i've started toying around with new ways to play my sessions.
Instead of a strict 24-tables 5-6k hand grind or nothing, i've started adjusting the number of tables based on my current energy state. For example, I might only play 12 tables, or shorter sessions, depending on my concentration. This way I can get more sessions in a day and bb/100 only gets better the less tables you play (although i'm not expecting a huge increase).
Even though there's nothing inherently wrong with marathon sessions, I think the benefits of shorter grinds are pretty obvious : less energy required to start, higher concentration (I usually play my best during the first 1h30 of a session), less mental fatigue after a session, etc. Much like anything in poker, it's important to keep things dynamic and fluid to maximize performances, both on and off the tables. These small changes could end up having a big effect on my bottom line, and i'm psyched to try them out in the coming weeks!
Up until now, i've always played with a very rigid structure. I'd get up, eat some breakfast, do some pre-session warm-up, load up 24 tables and play for about 5-6k hands. I've stuck to that because I knew it worked for me, and back in the days when confidence in my game was shaky, sticking to a rigid structure provided a nice safety blanket.
But much like opening hand ranges, if you stick to a static chart, you're really limiting your potential earn at the tables, so once you're comfortable with the basics, it's time to get dynamic and switch it up depending on game conditions. What does this mean in practical terms? Simply that i've started toying around with new ways to play my sessions.
Instead of a strict 24-tables 5-6k hand grind or nothing, i've started adjusting the number of tables based on my current energy state. For example, I might only play 12 tables, or shorter sessions, depending on my concentration. This way I can get more sessions in a day and bb/100 only gets better the less tables you play (although i'm not expecting a huge increase).
Even though there's nothing inherently wrong with marathon sessions, I think the benefits of shorter grinds are pretty obvious : less energy required to start, higher concentration (I usually play my best during the first 1h30 of a session), less mental fatigue after a session, etc. Much like anything in poker, it's important to keep things dynamic and fluid to maximize performances, both on and off the tables. These small changes could end up having a big effect on my bottom line, and i'm psyched to try them out in the coming weeks!
mercredi 9 mars 2011
A tip guarenteed to improve your results
Athene has recently made a comeback to poker (www.chirenlive.com) and in his streams he talked about some of the core poker skills one needs to succeed. At first I thought he would speak of actual poker strategy, but I was pleased to hear that he wanted to go more in-depth about the one true poker skill ; controlling your mind.
One of the reasons Athene is one of the poker player I look up to the most is not his actual skill at the table (even though he is a solid player). What really makes Athene a pro is his work ethic, his stamina and mental skills, and the way he applies them in poker, gaming and life. This control is what makes him a truly amazing player in all games, poker included.
It sounds like the simple stuff we hear over and over again, and it is, yet why do we keep screwing it up? I know this is the area I need to work on the most at the moment : practicing that mental sharpness to the point where I can apply it often and well.
Athene touched some nice subjects in the stream. One of the most important point that stood out for me is the importance of acknowledging your imperfections. We are not perfectly rational creatures and various situations that come up can alter our emotions, introducing subtle (or not so subtle) tilt.
Not looking at your results for a month was also a major tip that hit close to home. I firmly believe that looking at your results every session (or worse, during a session) can be a big leak. Unless you are a complete robot, the money will affect you emotionally (one way or the other), yet the actual money is completely meaningless. Not looking at your results for a month (or even a week is fine if you play significant volume) is one of the best tip for mental stability as a poker pro and it cannot be overstated.
Not looking at your results for a month was also a major tip that hit close to home. I firmly believe that looking at your results every session (or worse, during a session) can be a big leak. Unless you are a complete robot, the money will affect you emotionally (one way or the other), yet the actual money is completely meaningless. Not looking at your results for a month (or even a week is fine if you play significant volume) is one of the best tip for mental stability as a poker pro and it cannot be overstated.
While we can only go so far in controlling the actual emotional reaction, we do have absolute control over one thing : recognizing the emotion and acting accordingly. What this means is if you get stacked, if you get caught running a huge bluff, if you're on a losing/winning streak and it affects you in any way that you are no longer playing optimally, simply stop.
This is one the skill I feel I have really improved over the last month, and I have gotten significantly better at recognizing the early signs of poor concentration, and then stopping the session. Thus, what is one of the most important tips to improve your results? Know when to stop ; without this skill, top pros have gone busto, and ordinary players that possess it have built up nice little fortunes. Stay sharp and gl at the tables!
lundi 28 février 2011
First two months recap, always keep improving
This year has been quite a rollercoaster to far, but in a good way. I'm glad I learned some valuable lessons the hard way in my first month so I could quickly kick myself and get my game back on track. I don't even know how my play degenerated so much in January. I started by running a bit bad, then I played more weak-tight, which worsened my results, which made me play even more weak-tight. The last session was a total trainwreck, enough that I had to take a break and figure out how my solid game had devolved to such a mess. Kids, don't let this happen to you :
This was mostly 100NL, with about 15k hands of 50NL in the middle. Ugh. I knew I could do so much better, but I guess I was still stuck in year-end Supernova-grind mode where I played like a nitty zombie. Fortunately, I picked up my copy of Small Stakes Hold'em and suddenly remembered what solid poker was all about ; controlled aggression. Coupled with what I learned about mid-February on my preflop leaks & new techniques on focus & flow-state, I was able to completely turn my game around and get some solid results :
This month started with about 15k hands at 50NL and the rest at 100NL. Notice the difference in redline alone, which is such a huge part of poker at the small stakes & beyond. Even though the redline isn't the be-all end-all, I think it's a good indicator of your reading skills/aggression and generally solid poker. It's funny how everytime I play well, I magically run good and when I play bad, I run bad. I think this is even more evident in my last 1k hand which I mentionned in my last post. That last 1k my concentration was gone but I still played it to "finish the session".
Did I run bad? I went all-in with KK and lost to AA, I lost 2 40bb stacks 4betting AI with mid pairs to a higher pair. But was that really bad luck or bad play? The KK was 150bb deep with a nit reraising my UTG raise, something I could have easily avoided by flatting PF to setmine. And while both 40bb stacks were against aggressive re-raisers, those were players whom I had 4b pretty aggressively over the session (and them always folding), making it that much more likely they were 3-betting tighter against me. These are the situations which look like bad luck but in reality, a lot of these spots can be avoided with solid reading skills/understand table dynamics, small things you don't pickup when playing half-heartedly.
Thus I came to a very important conclusion ; volume will never be my primary focus (which means I will never try for SNE). I've always been happier as a poker player when I felt I was playing solid, but this month I learned some key skills to playing great poker with peak concentration. While I do want to play more in the future (44k hands in a month as a pro is pretty abysmal volume), I don't want to make hand count a priority. Just as I don't look at my results often (usually every 15-20k hands), I don't want to get concerned over how many hands I play over a session.
In practical terms, this means focusing on my health & energy levels (going to bed/getting up at reasonably early hours, eating well and generally having a balanced lifestyles), and making sure that each time I play poker I consciously direct my efforts toward playing in a flow-state. Then I can play and not be concerned by anything but killing the game until I feel my concentration waning (which usually happens around 6k hands).
If I can succeed in doing that, i'm 100% confident that my winrate and results will take care of themselves and I will be a much happier/fulfilled poker player in general. In short, despite my low volume, this has been one of the most important months in my poker career and I look forward to playing the best poker I can in the coming months!
This was mostly 100NL, with about 15k hands of 50NL in the middle. Ugh. I knew I could do so much better, but I guess I was still stuck in year-end Supernova-grind mode where I played like a nitty zombie. Fortunately, I picked up my copy of Small Stakes Hold'em and suddenly remembered what solid poker was all about ; controlled aggression. Coupled with what I learned about mid-February on my preflop leaks & new techniques on focus & flow-state, I was able to completely turn my game around and get some solid results :
This month started with about 15k hands at 50NL and the rest at 100NL. Notice the difference in redline alone, which is such a huge part of poker at the small stakes & beyond. Even though the redline isn't the be-all end-all, I think it's a good indicator of your reading skills/aggression and generally solid poker. It's funny how everytime I play well, I magically run good and when I play bad, I run bad. I think this is even more evident in my last 1k hand which I mentionned in my last post. That last 1k my concentration was gone but I still played it to "finish the session".
Did I run bad? I went all-in with KK and lost to AA, I lost 2 40bb stacks 4betting AI with mid pairs to a higher pair. But was that really bad luck or bad play? The KK was 150bb deep with a nit reraising my UTG raise, something I could have easily avoided by flatting PF to setmine. And while both 40bb stacks were against aggressive re-raisers, those were players whom I had 4b pretty aggressively over the session (and them always folding), making it that much more likely they were 3-betting tighter against me. These are the situations which look like bad luck but in reality, a lot of these spots can be avoided with solid reading skills/understand table dynamics, small things you don't pickup when playing half-heartedly.
Thus I came to a very important conclusion ; volume will never be my primary focus (which means I will never try for SNE). I've always been happier as a poker player when I felt I was playing solid, but this month I learned some key skills to playing great poker with peak concentration. While I do want to play more in the future (44k hands in a month as a pro is pretty abysmal volume), I don't want to make hand count a priority. Just as I don't look at my results often (usually every 15-20k hands), I don't want to get concerned over how many hands I play over a session.
In practical terms, this means focusing on my health & energy levels (going to bed/getting up at reasonably early hours, eating well and generally having a balanced lifestyles), and making sure that each time I play poker I consciously direct my efforts toward playing in a flow-state. Then I can play and not be concerned by anything but killing the game until I feel my concentration waning (which usually happens around 6k hands).
If I can succeed in doing that, i'm 100% confident that my winrate and results will take care of themselves and I will be a much happier/fulfilled poker player in general. In short, despite my low volume, this has been one of the most important months in my poker career and I look forward to playing the best poker I can in the coming months!
jeudi 24 février 2011
The Most Important Poker Skill
It's funny how it can take a lot of time to really *get* a concept. It's often a process that's different for everybody. Sometimes you only need to read something once and it automatically clicks. Sometimes it might take weeks, months or even years before a concept truly sinks in and becomes a core part of your arsenal. And today, I think I had one of the most significant ah-Ha! moment in my poker career.
What was this big revelation? It's actually really simple, so basic that it's often overlooked, or at the very least is not given nearly enough thought ; poker requires focus. I can already hear you laugh, thinking "did it really take you years to figure that out?". Actually, yes! Now, i'm not talking about basic focus. If you're watching TV and not really paying attention to the game, you're obviously doing it wrong. No, what i'm talking about goes deeper than that.
I always knew that getting complacent with poker can quickly drain, if not outright kill a winrate, but today I realized how quickly this shift can happen. Here's what happened ; it was a typical session and I was doing good. My reads were solid and I was very confident in both my folds and vbets. I wasn't thinking about my results or how many hands I had played and I was intently focused on the game. After awhile I was feeling a little tired and hungry so I decided to take a quick break.
I checked my hand count, saw that I was about 1k short of today's goal so I took a few minutes off, made myself a sandwich and came back... however something had changed. I was now playing to finish off that last 1k (out of 7.5k) instead of playing poker to win. This might seem silly but it's actually a huge difference. My killer instinct was gone, mistakes quickly added up which tilted me because of how stupid some of these mistakes were. Although I did finish my 7.5k, that last 1k hand was almost certainly -EV given how many mistakes were made.
What's the lesson in all this? It sounds so simple yet it's importance cannot be overstated ; to truly own at poker, you must be intently focused on winning and killing the competition. This is not something that's exclusive to poker, athletes often refer to this state as being "in the zone" or being in a "flow-state". This is not a new concept for me but today, the contrast between being "in the zone" and completely losing my edge was so strong, so obvious that it made me realize the true importance of playing only when in that state.
I remember poker genius Boywonder saying the real difference between a 2000NL player and a 200NL player is consistency. This means that in a purely theoritical environment, a 2000NL player is not that different from a 200NL player. However, the 2000NL guy will almost always play "in the zone" and therefore make a lot less "execution" mistakes than his 200NL counterpart. While this is true in any competitive game, it goes double for poker since the penalty for losing focus can be very steep.
So why was today so significant for me? In the end, I think today's events allowed me to analyze myself more accurately, which will allow me to not only know when i'm in the zone, but also to consciously monitor and alter my concentration when needed. Re-reading this, I know it seems really esoteric but I think this particular realization is a cornerstone in any serious poker player's career because it allows you to do three important things :
1) Consciously alter your mind to work in a flow-state
2) Honestly monitor yourself to accurately assess your current state
3) Stop playing as soon as you feel the flow-state slipping
When i'm in the flow-state, my reads are precise, my math decisions are obvious, I always feel 2 steps ahead of everyone and i'm extremely confident. It's funny how often I magically "run good" when I play in this state. However, when i'm not, as in today's last 1k hands, I feel confused, lost and i'm spewing left and right, losing (or not winning) many small & medium bets, not to mention the occasional stack-off blunder, all things which can very quickly make the difference between a big winner and a struggling break-even player.
I honestly think these 3 skills are more important than anything else in poker because if you can't master yourself when it matters, all the theory and strategy in the world can't help you. Thus, if you want to improve your game, remember that while your opponents will change, the one person you will always have to control at the table is yourself. So be honest with yourself, get your game on, get out there and play to win!
What was this big revelation? It's actually really simple, so basic that it's often overlooked, or at the very least is not given nearly enough thought ; poker requires focus. I can already hear you laugh, thinking "did it really take you years to figure that out?". Actually, yes! Now, i'm not talking about basic focus. If you're watching TV and not really paying attention to the game, you're obviously doing it wrong. No, what i'm talking about goes deeper than that.
I always knew that getting complacent with poker can quickly drain, if not outright kill a winrate, but today I realized how quickly this shift can happen. Here's what happened ; it was a typical session and I was doing good. My reads were solid and I was very confident in both my folds and vbets. I wasn't thinking about my results or how many hands I had played and I was intently focused on the game. After awhile I was feeling a little tired and hungry so I decided to take a quick break.
I checked my hand count, saw that I was about 1k short of today's goal so I took a few minutes off, made myself a sandwich and came back... however something had changed. I was now playing to finish off that last 1k (out of 7.5k) instead of playing poker to win. This might seem silly but it's actually a huge difference. My killer instinct was gone, mistakes quickly added up which tilted me because of how stupid some of these mistakes were. Although I did finish my 7.5k, that last 1k hand was almost certainly -EV given how many mistakes were made.
What's the lesson in all this? It sounds so simple yet it's importance cannot be overstated ; to truly own at poker, you must be intently focused on winning and killing the competition. This is not something that's exclusive to poker, athletes often refer to this state as being "in the zone" or being in a "flow-state". This is not a new concept for me but today, the contrast between being "in the zone" and completely losing my edge was so strong, so obvious that it made me realize the true importance of playing only when in that state.
I remember poker genius Boywonder saying the real difference between a 2000NL player and a 200NL player is consistency. This means that in a purely theoritical environment, a 2000NL player is not that different from a 200NL player. However, the 2000NL guy will almost always play "in the zone" and therefore make a lot less "execution" mistakes than his 200NL counterpart. While this is true in any competitive game, it goes double for poker since the penalty for losing focus can be very steep.
So why was today so significant for me? In the end, I think today's events allowed me to analyze myself more accurately, which will allow me to not only know when i'm in the zone, but also to consciously monitor and alter my concentration when needed. Re-reading this, I know it seems really esoteric but I think this particular realization is a cornerstone in any serious poker player's career because it allows you to do three important things :
1) Consciously alter your mind to work in a flow-state
2) Honestly monitor yourself to accurately assess your current state
3) Stop playing as soon as you feel the flow-state slipping
When i'm in the flow-state, my reads are precise, my math decisions are obvious, I always feel 2 steps ahead of everyone and i'm extremely confident. It's funny how often I magically "run good" when I play in this state. However, when i'm not, as in today's last 1k hands, I feel confused, lost and i'm spewing left and right, losing (or not winning) many small & medium bets, not to mention the occasional stack-off blunder, all things which can very quickly make the difference between a big winner and a struggling break-even player.
I honestly think these 3 skills are more important than anything else in poker because if you can't master yourself when it matters, all the theory and strategy in the world can't help you. Thus, if you want to improve your game, remember that while your opponents will change, the one person you will always have to control at the table is yourself. So be honest with yourself, get your game on, get out there and play to win!
vendredi 11 février 2011
Going for the throat, leak-fixing that just falls into your lap
February has been going great so far, a huge improvement over weak-tight January. I've rekindled my killer instinct by re-reading Small Stakes Hold'em and my redline is thanking me for it! It's funny how sometimes improvements come from seemingly random events. In one hand this month, I open 99 in EP, get called in blinds. I flop the nut top set, make a hefty bet and get called, ditto OTT. River a full house and shove about a PSB, thinking he either had a lower FH or a busted draw. Villain goes in the tank and finally says "Frank H?", tanks some more and says "should have 3b my AA and see you fold PF" and folds.
My read was wrong but I didn't think much of it and continue playing. However, over the next 10 mins, the guy gave me a total preflop whooping, 3-betting, 4-betting and even a 3b/5b where I attempted to 4b bluff him. Everytime I had a weak hand and folded. Just as I were ready to start adapting, he shut down completely. Later on, I was browsing friendlypoker and I saw a post with his name "1k$ in 1 day" and I looked at the graph inside. I just couldn't believe a nitty player could do so well in 1 day. Some of it is variance of course, but I was intrigued.
He happened to be online at the time so we started chatting. We happened to have completely opposite playing styles. I tend to prefer LAG while he was squeeky tight around 12/9 and we started exchanging tips and pointing out leaks in each other's game. We started talking about different strategies with different hands and he pointed out how tight I was to resteals and how easy it was to exploit me. I had always known I was too tight to resteals but I never gave it that much thought until that day.
It's funny how that particular 99 full house ended up being worth a lot more than a mere pot. After our conversation, I really looked in-depth at many spots in my pre-flop game that were badly in need of improvement (IMO, preflop was my weakest street up to that point). After that I played a few sessions, tweaked my preflop game with new strategies and it worked wonders. I really think that fixing those leaks will have a big impact on my bottom line. I look forward to find out how it works out over a good sample and I am psyched to play some poker!
My read was wrong but I didn't think much of it and continue playing. However, over the next 10 mins, the guy gave me a total preflop whooping, 3-betting, 4-betting and even a 3b/5b where I attempted to 4b bluff him. Everytime I had a weak hand and folded. Just as I were ready to start adapting, he shut down completely. Later on, I was browsing friendlypoker and I saw a post with his name "1k$ in 1 day" and I looked at the graph inside. I just couldn't believe a nitty player could do so well in 1 day. Some of it is variance of course, but I was intrigued.
He happened to be online at the time so we started chatting. We happened to have completely opposite playing styles. I tend to prefer LAG while he was squeeky tight around 12/9 and we started exchanging tips and pointing out leaks in each other's game. We started talking about different strategies with different hands and he pointed out how tight I was to resteals and how easy it was to exploit me. I had always known I was too tight to resteals but I never gave it that much thought until that day.
It's funny how that particular 99 full house ended up being worth a lot more than a mere pot. After our conversation, I really looked in-depth at many spots in my pre-flop game that were badly in need of improvement (IMO, preflop was my weakest street up to that point). After that I played a few sessions, tweaked my preflop game with new strategies and it worked wonders. I really think that fixing those leaks will have a big impact on my bottom line. I look forward to find out how it works out over a good sample and I am psyched to play some poker!
dimanche 30 janvier 2011
First month recap, Don't try to control the uncontrollable
My first poker month is over and it's not time for a quick recap of this month's goals. Overall January has been pretty mediocre poker-wise. My head wasn't in the right place, I didn't play enough volume and i've played scared, mostly because of a bad downswing. However, it hasn't been all bad ;
The Good
Poker aside, I like the way January played out. I spent quality time with family, friends & girlfriend, eating habits were good and I only missed 2 days of exercise in the whole month. I also got a good amount of writing done, something I hadn't really planned for. I have some ideas of where to next take the blog and I hope to develop it some more in the future. Regarding health, life and extras, i'm pretty satisfied and wish to continue doing the same in February.
The Bad
Sleeping habits were pretty shaky. For the most part I respected my 11pm bedtime when I worked the following day but other than that it's been all over the place. Hard for a nightowl to resist the temptation when there's no work the following day. However, going to bed too late drains my energy for exercise & motivation and an irregular schedule doesn't help my focus on poker days. Definitely something to work on.
The Ugly
My actual game has been pretty terrible this month. Ran 900$ under EV in my first 2 sessions and it really messed with my head. Playing scared, worrying too much about everything, not playing enough, all things that worsened my downswing.
However, something good came out of it as i've finally figured out why it messed with me so much. Most of it came from the pressure of "going pro". Because of some arbitrary transition, I suddenly became worried about my game, tried too hard, began to focus on results and winrate way too much, which led to playing scared/losing motivation.
Looking back at past months, I can see similar spots where I dropped just as many buy-ins yet it didn't affect me because I didn't "feel" the downswing. In the end, downswings are just illusions between two points in your graph but the consequences of "feeling" a downswing are very real. The only thing that materializes a downswing is when you happen to look at your graph at X and Y points.
Thus, what is the solution? It's actually really simple ; don't look at your results, you can even block the stack amount on your screen to be completely in the dark (unless your opponent is deepstacked and you need to know how much you have, obviously). You only need a couple things to do this ; the confidence that you are a winner in your game (IE : if you have over 100-200k hands as a winner), and a sufficient bankroll.
I happen to have over 70 buy-ins and despite the recent swings i'm still in the green over my past 200k hands at 100NL. The only thing left is to accept the worse should it come. If I lose 40+ buy-ins before my next bonus (about 80k hands), then so be it and i'll either step down or stop poker altogether. I think coming to terms with the worse case scenario frees up a lot of unnecessary anxiety. It also leads to a very important point which is particularly vital in poker :
Don't try to control the uncontrollable. It will drive you nuts and increase the chances you cause, instead of avoid, the undesired event. In poker terms, this means you cannot control luck, variance or your winrate. Face facts, accept the worse case scenario, plan and aim for the best one, and then just play. The rest isn't up to you, and trying to do otherwise will lead to much unhappiness and most likely failure.
Overall, I think the lessons learned this month were worth the bankroll hit. Life-wise, a lot of what I do is already right and if I fix the psychological bankroll leaks, I should be right back on track for February and onwards. Current goal for February is 100k hands, which will give me a bunch of stellar rewards and my next big cash bonus. Onwards!
vendredi 28 janvier 2011
Getting your head straight during a downswing
Sometimes it feels like everyone you play with is outplaying you. This feeling is usually happens during a downswing and it can be very dangerous. Why? Because it can lead you to that dangerous zone where you try to outplay everyone and end up "fixing" what's not broken, which in turn worsens the downswing and creates a very dangerous vicious cycle. So, how do you get your head straight during these rough patches? The solution is simple, and it all has to do with confidence.
This is an area where I still struggle, even after half a million hands, because poker is a game that can really mess with your brain. However, here are some tips that can help solidify a shaken confidence ; practice solid bankroll management. When you have 80 buy-ins, that 20 BI downswing will be a lot easier to go through. If you only have 40 BI, the same swing will make you feel very uneasy (in which cases you should definitely step down in limits for a while).
Second, look back at times where you won. If you've won over 100k hands at any given limit, especially over 1ptBB/100, chances are very high that you are a winner in your game. This means even if you don't improve dramatically, you'll always win money playing your usual game at that stake (obviously, players improve overtime but this process can take many months, if not years).
Third, look at the graphs of successful players. Notice how some of them have 50k, or even 100k stretches where they break-even, with huge swings in-between. This can give you perspective, you'll notice that you're not alone and that even though it seems like the end of the world, your downswing is perfectly normal. Remember that everyone makes mistakes, and even good players still make some very stupid mistakes at times. This is why you don't need to be perfect to win, you just need to make a few less mistakes than your opponents and you're gold!
Finally, look through your database and appreciate your game. We often hear about leak-finding database-digging sessions, especially during a downswing. While it is true that the downswing may be caused by bad play and you should try to spot leaks that may have developped without you noticing, I think there's a delicate balance that must be achieved. Looking only at your faults or at the things other players do better than you can lead to a state where you feel your game is no longer appropriate for the stake you play, despite your proven winning record. This is poison to your confidence, especially when mixed with a downswing.
Thus, I recommend an appreciation session in your database. Look at all the hands you played well. That good barrel, the nice raise bluffs, that sweet hand where you extracted maximum value with an overpair, all those thin river bets you didn't miss, all the good laydowns you've made. Take some time to appreciate the player you've become and notice how your game, while not perfect, still has a lot of things right. This can really give you a positive outlook on your game, rebuild your confidence and break the vicious cycle a downswing can create. So get out there and play with your head high!
This is an area where I still struggle, even after half a million hands, because poker is a game that can really mess with your brain. However, here are some tips that can help solidify a shaken confidence ; practice solid bankroll management. When you have 80 buy-ins, that 20 BI downswing will be a lot easier to go through. If you only have 40 BI, the same swing will make you feel very uneasy (in which cases you should definitely step down in limits for a while).
Second, look back at times where you won. If you've won over 100k hands at any given limit, especially over 1ptBB/100, chances are very high that you are a winner in your game. This means even if you don't improve dramatically, you'll always win money playing your usual game at that stake (obviously, players improve overtime but this process can take many months, if not years).
Third, look at the graphs of successful players. Notice how some of them have 50k, or even 100k stretches where they break-even, with huge swings in-between. This can give you perspective, you'll notice that you're not alone and that even though it seems like the end of the world, your downswing is perfectly normal. Remember that everyone makes mistakes, and even good players still make some very stupid mistakes at times. This is why you don't need to be perfect to win, you just need to make a few less mistakes than your opponents and you're gold!
Finally, look through your database and appreciate your game. We often hear about leak-finding database-digging sessions, especially during a downswing. While it is true that the downswing may be caused by bad play and you should try to spot leaks that may have developped without you noticing, I think there's a delicate balance that must be achieved. Looking only at your faults or at the things other players do better than you can lead to a state where you feel your game is no longer appropriate for the stake you play, despite your proven winning record. This is poison to your confidence, especially when mixed with a downswing.
Thus, I recommend an appreciation session in your database. Look at all the hands you played well. That good barrel, the nice raise bluffs, that sweet hand where you extracted maximum value with an overpair, all those thin river bets you didn't miss, all the good laydowns you've made. Take some time to appreciate the player you've become and notice how your game, while not perfect, still has a lot of things right. This can really give you a positive outlook on your game, rebuild your confidence and break the vicious cycle a downswing can create. So get out there and play with your head high!
vendredi 14 janvier 2011
Taking my own advice
It's weird how we sometimes forget the most obvious things in poker and in life. Somewhere along the way, we get caught up in the elaborate bluffs, fancy plays and razorthin value bets. These things aren't inherently bad, that is as long as they don't obfuscate the solid foundation upon which they must rest. Ever since I got Supernova, something feels off with my game. I have trouble getting my target number of hands and even though i'm playing soundly for the most part, I feel rushed and stressed out. Although it didn't help that I ran 900$ under EV in my first 15k hands, I think what's wrong is deeper than that. It's certainly not a bankroll or winrate issue, as I still have over 80 buy-ins for NL100 and despite this last stretch I still have a very healthy winrate over my last 100k hands.
Somehow I just can't seem to pinpoint exactly what's shaking my confidence. Maybe it's the pressure of "going pro", although I have 0 financial concerns for the time being. Perhaps it has to do with my perception of what a pro is, with the bar being very high. In any case, I think I ought to take my own advice and, as long as things don't feel right, step down for a little while. As of today, I can't identify exactly what it is that's causing this state, but I think a nice stroll down with my beloved NL50 is just what I need while I sort it all out. In the end, there's no point to play if you're not having fun ; as a wise man once said : "a man whose only pay is his pay envelope is a poor man, no matter how much money is in the envelope".
Somehow I just can't seem to pinpoint exactly what's shaking my confidence. Maybe it's the pressure of "going pro", although I have 0 financial concerns for the time being. Perhaps it has to do with my perception of what a pro is, with the bar being very high. In any case, I think I ought to take my own advice and, as long as things don't feel right, step down for a little while. As of today, I can't identify exactly what it is that's causing this state, but I think a nice stroll down with my beloved NL50 is just what I need while I sort it all out. In the end, there's no point to play if you're not having fun ; as a wise man once said : "a man whose only pay is his pay envelope is a poor man, no matter how much money is in the envelope".
Q&A-Workshop #2, player evolution, thinking in terms of ranges (draws, pocket pairs, turn, etc)
What is the Q&A-Workshop? It's basically a Q&A with me, Zapatos80 on Pokerstars. The difference between this and a normal strategy post is I want to take a more personalized approach to poker study. Micro players already have access to many amazing sources of information like the Concept of the Week series (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/78...ntents-397190/) but the sheer amount of strategy and theory can be daunting to take in and at first and it can be very challenging to figure out exactly what applies to your game, so this is where I come in.
You might be wondering "who is this guy?" In short, a Supernova budding Small Stakes player that enjoys writing about poker and interacting with the community. For those who are interested in learning more about me and my progress, you can follow me right here on my blog. If you want to participate in a Q&A-Workshop, send me a PM with the following :
- Your poker progress (when did you start playing, what stakes you're playing, how you are doing)
- Your poker challenges (situations you find difficult, both on and off the tables, spots you're unsure of, various types of villains that give you trouble)
- Your poker goals (what do you want out of poker, what's the next step you're working on as a poker player). If you have 1-2 hands that gave you trouble, you can include them as well.
The goal here is simply to expand/simplify CoTWs and basically make them more accessible & personalized. I also think the Q&A format will make it easier to adress the real issues and challenges that micro players face, as we tend to take many strategies for granted as we move up. Finally, i'd like to divide my answers into two sections ; the quick fix & the more detailed explanation. If you just want to plug that leak or get a fast, pragmatic explanation to your problem, use the quick fix. If you want to take the difficulty up a notch, go with the detailed explanation. However, this particular Workshop is so vast that i'll be going with a more pragmatic, direct approach to every topic.
Q&A-Workshop #2
Hey! Getting right on to subject -
poker progress
*long, but explains importance of concentrated info in a way
I started playing with thoughts about moving up in stakes over time about 5 months ago. I played by following FPcoach (FPCoach is a simple "training wheels" free web app created by Athene (Chiren80) and is basically a simple, basic guide that you can follow to the letter to beat NL2 and can be found at his poker community site, friendly poker :http://friendlyp.ning.com/page/fpcoach-1) for ~2months showing ~125 BI profit by grinding 24 tables @ NL2. I desperately wanted to move up in stakes, started playing NL5 and it seemed much different. At 2NL, it wasn't uncommon to see all-ins with any two cards with a lot of people playing a lot of hands preflop. At 5NL, those all-ins seem much rarer and people also play a lot tighter preflop. I started looking for ways to improve my play and got lost in the immense amount of information available - read 2 harrington on holdem books, but in the end I didnt remember almost anything of it excluding psychology, and some articles I read/videos I watched also gave me some good info but I didn't know how the best way to use it.
Btw just now thanks to this I found COTW on 2+2, I think I will study it similiar to you and school subjects - taking notes.
After that, I started adding in some NL10 tables in place of some NL2 & NL5 tables. I also applied some things I had read about like raising flop cbet vs 1 player roughly 50-60% in all three stakes although I realized it's not that good to bluff in the micro NL2 and NL5 stakes I play.
I slowly lost ~ 20 BI's @ NL10 by my estimates (not including rake) using these things, stepped down to NL2 & NL5 and then raised my bankroll to the point where it was after 2 months of play and where I am now, by playing NL2 and NL5 again (all that in ~1month), then I stopped playing poker for a long while. Now I came back and i'm just grinding NL2 again.
poker challenges
There are quite a lot of situations where I dont know what would be the GTO play (Game Theoritically Optimal). Some of those spots include, but aren't limited to :
* Playing pocket pairs. For example I always folded my TT to a cbet on flop with lower cards. After that, I tried raising or 3betting in similiar spots and at first, I was amazed to see it working so well;
* Finding table balance. Adding NL10 tables to my 24-table setup when I was just starting at that limit tables wasnt good. Table selecting during play (how to concentrate on table selection when you're already paying attention to your own tables)
* Drawing. For example I raise the flop with a multi-draw with intention to go all-in, but then I have to fold on the turn because of bad odds (not including implied odds). What's a good turn play with these draws?
* How to use implied odds. I practically never use them to estimate whether to make call or not
* A general understanding of things like position - one thing I hear often is "you can call in this spot because you will be in position on the flop". How can I tell when I will be given action first? And how does that affect preflop play? I usually fold low suited connectors to a raise because the price is too high, not because I will be out of position on the flop.
* Improving concentration - Mind Flow (http://themindflow.com/) helped a bit but I still tend to make silly mistakes in poker (and in other things too).
* How the average player evolves as the stakes go up - being more aggresive pre-flop is not the only alteration to be made etc.
poker goals
Becoming a Supernova would be absolutely amazing to say the least. In the short term, my goal is to play NL10 profitably, to study COTWs and hopefully to be able to use the information on a daily basis so I can finally move up without being scared.
GL!
Wow, this is quite a mouthful and touches on a ton of different subjects, all of which could be a Q&A-Workshop on its own. However, i'll try to go over everything by really boiling it down to the essentials so you can apply it to your game right away.
First of all, I want to mention something about your up-and-down progress ; this is completely normal. I say this because it's so easy to watch some of the super succesful players and think that if you don't succeed right away, you're a poker failure. Nothing could be further from the truth, and I would bet quite a lot that the vast majority of succesful small stakes players and above went to this process many, many times before making it.
If you read about some of the extremely succesful men and women in any undertaking (business, acting, etc.), you'll see that more often than not, those people had to deal with a lot of failures before making it big, something we really don't hear or read about very often. Thus, keep your chin up and keep grinding. As long as you're determined to study and play well, success is guarenteed.
Player tightness in NL2 vs NL5
You mentionned one big difference between NL2 and NL5 ; player tightness. There's basically two ways to make money in poker. Having the best hand at showdown (value), or making people fold (bluff). When people are playing a lot of hands and getting to showdown very often, then playing premium hands only is a surefire way to make profits. In the loose NL2 games, this is the best strategy to adopt (tons of value betting, very little bluffs).
At the other end of the spectrum would be the hyper-tight guys who only play AK/QQ+. These guys are playing so tight that it becomes super profitable to raise ATC when you're playing against them (tons of bluffing, and only value betting when you have a supremely good hand). Those players are very rare, but if you find one, don't be afraid to steal their blinds very aggressively.
In most games however, you'll find players in the middle of these two extremes. The better the player, the more balanced your bets will have to be (need a proper balance between value and bluffs). At NL5, more players understand that playing tight preflop is good, so you'll have to adapt accordingly. As a rule of thumb, it's never wrong to tighten up yourself. Playing AJ in early position is great if people will call with A2-AT (like many people at NL2) but if the tight players are only calling with AQ-AK, you're going to be in trouble.
You should also limp a lot less since raises are more likely. At the loose and passive NL2 games, it might be profitable to limp many hands, even in early or mid position, because many people will limp behind you, giving you good odds to hit your hand. If the players at NL5 are tighter and more aggressive, you should limp a lot less yourself or you're going to face a lot of raises you simply cannot call with weak hands. So if you change only one thing preflop, tighten up significantly in early and middle position and limp a lot less, if ever.
Thinking in terms of ranges/continuation ranges & why are you betting?
This is such a huge concept that it's going to be hard to sum up quickly, but I think it's a core piece of the answer to your questions here. A range is the hands an opponent can have in a certain spot. For example, if villain is raising 8% of his hands in early position, we can assume that if he raises UTG, his range looks something like this :
AA-88, AK-AJ, KQ
His continuation range is what he will continue with if he faces a bet. For example, if we reraise him, his continuation range might be :
AA-QQ, AK
This is a VERY important concept that is often misunderstood. For example, if you have JJ, you're ahead of his raising range. If he went all-in with his whole range against your re-raise, then you would be correct to call because you have 54% equity with JJ. However, if you reraise and he tightens up to only AA-QQ and AK, your JJ is not looking very good with only 36% equity.
This is so important that I want to emphasize this again ; when you're looking at a pretty good hand that's likely ahead of villain's range, don't bet automatically. Always ask yourself this ; if I bet here, what will villain continue with? Will he continue with a lot of weaker hands or will he fold everything I beat and only continue with hands that beat me? If you're not familiar with this stuff, it may be confusing at first so don't be shy about asking questions if you need more explanations.
By reading your questions, it seems likely that you haven't mastered thinking about ranges/continuation ranges. This is normal and takes a while to develop. However I can't give you direct answers to your more elaborate questions because it depends on so many factors. Instead of giving you a fish, i'll do my best to teach you how to fish.
Raising cbets
First of all, I highly recommend you never try to apply something in poker without knowing why you're doing it, especially if it's a play that seems uncommon or risky. Raising cbets 50-60% of the time is a good example of that ; what are you trying to accomplish? Remember that in poker, we're almost always betting for one of two reasons (for value, or as a bluff) and as a rule of thumb, we mostly want to bet for value and bluff occasionally for balance.
If you're raising 50-60% of cbets, that means that a very high % of the time, you're raising complete air. This is bad in any situations, but it's a particularly expensive play at the micros since people don't fold very often. At the smallest stakes, I would recommend raising for value only. If you have a really solid hand and villain is likely to continue with worse, then raise. Don't raise-bluff much, if ever. Remember that you only need to raise-bluff to balance your value and that balance is defense. If villain calls a ton and rarely folds, why bluff?
Playing pocket pairs
This is basically impossible to cover in a short post but here's the gist of it : small pocket pairs (22-77) mostly rely on set value. The cheaper you can see the flop the better. If preflop raises are very rare, then consider limping with those hands. If preflop raises are common, then tighten up and just fold them in early/mid position and look to raise yourself in late position if everybody folded to you.
For beginners, I recommend you play 88-JJ exactly the same way as 22-77 preflop. The reason behind this is that although they have more value postflop, those mid-pocket pairs can be really tricky to play postflop and it's very easy to make expensive mistakes with them. Thus, if you're not sure how to maneuver complex postflop decisions, you're much better off playing them exactly like 22-77 and only continue if you hit your set. Tight is right and it's much better to sacrifice a small amount of EV than to spew massively postflop.
Finally QQ-AA should be played very aggressively for value. Against most people you can reraise and shove QQ-AA preflop. Be careful about QQ though, especially if the reraiser is very tight. Nothing wrong with folding QQ preflop if the reraiser is so tight that he's only reraising KK/AA.
I really can't do justice to this subject in a few short paragraphs but my goal here is to help you patch up your game and if you follow the above, you should be ok preflop. For postflop play, I would recommend playing 22-99 purely for set value. If you hit your set, bet and raise and look to get all-in on all but extremely dangerous boards (4-straight or 4-flush on the board). With TT-AA, look to bet/raise and get all-in against loose opponents if you have an overpair. Against tight opponents, be careful, especially with TT-QQ, since a raise from a tight opponent usually means 2 pairs or better. Pocket pairs can be some of the trickiest hands to play well postflop, especially out of position, so until you have a very solid understanding of ranges, continuation ranges and opponent tendencies, stick to the "tight is right" strategy.
Table balance
Here's my rule regarding the number of tables ; if you're routinely in medium/big pots with marginal hands, with no idea what to do and how you got there or why, you're playing too many tables. Focus on quality and speed will come naturally. This is especially true when you're first moving up to a new stake because you need to build your confidence and get an idea of how people are playing.
Also, never underestimate the importance of table selection. At NL2, most tables are filled with loose players so table selection doesn't matter much. However, the higher you move up in stakes, the more important table selection becomes. Obviously, you want loose tables filled with fish. However, table selection works both ways ; finding fish is good, but avoiding tough regs will also improve the quality of your tables. If you don't like the players at your table, for whatever reason (is a good player constantly reraising you? is someone playing in a way you don't understand and is giving you trouble?), then leave the table and find another one.
Draws
This is another group of hand that can be tough to play and is another huge subject on its own. When you have a good draw (flush draw or open-ended straight draw), there's two important things you need to figure out ; fold equity against your opponent(s) and implied odds. If you bet/raise, will your opponent fold? This is your fold equity, and the more likely villain is to fold, the more you should consider betting/raising with your draw. If villain is very loose, as is likely at the low stakes, then consider checking or calling instead.
Check for a free card, or call if you're getting a good price. The looser your opponent, the better your implied odds. This means even if you're not getting the proper price (roughly 4-to-1 for a flush draw on the next card), you can call a bet if your loose opponent will give you action on further streets. Unfortunately there's no recipe for this and fold equity/implied odds are very villain-dependant. At the low stakes however, you should always assume your fold equity is low and your implied odds are high as a rule of thumb. Don't vastly overestimate your implied odds, but as long as you reasonably stick to that you should be allright.
Position
Poker is war, and in war you want all the advantages you can get. Here are the three main advantages in poker :
Hand strength
Skill edge
Position
Position is simply one of three advantages you can have over your opponent. Basically, if you are skilled and have position, you can play more hands (weaker hand strength) and leverage your skill and position to make up for it. That's why you'll often hear advice such as "play more hands in position". Skill edge is a big factor however, so make sure you have a good grip on your opponent before calling raises, even in position.
For example, if your opponent is loose and will give plenty of action, consider calling with low pocket pairs in position to setmine. Plenty of speculative hands with decent high-card strength are also fine to play in position, especially against villain who raise a lot of hands in mid/late position. Hands like ATs, KTs, QJs, JTs, etc are all good enough hands when you have position on your side. However, don't play trash or weak speculative hands like 45s unless you have a solid grip on your opponent : (will he fold easily if I raise postflop? or will he give me so much action that I can rely on flushes and straights to make up for those times I miss). Notice that without a good reason to play those hands, you should fold them. It's very hard for me to go in-depth about position in such an abstract way, so feel free to ask more precise questions if something is amiss.
Concentration
I don't think there is one right way to go about it. A healthy lifestyle, balance between work & recovery, fitness, mind exercices like Mindflow, everything can work. Most of it is common sense, and the rest is up to you. The best way to get it right is to test out new things and see how they work out, a process i'm still engaged in actively to this day.
Personally, fitness, healthy eating and a proper sleeping schedule goes a long way. Time off, a balanced lifestyle and recovery time also help tremendously. The most important thing to remember is don't beat yourself up. Making mistakes is the price we pay for learning, everybody makes them and mistake-free play is impossible, so don't feel bad if you're making mistakes. Instead, try to learn from every one of them and think of ways to make less of them in the future. Remember also that poker is a battle of mistakes, so you don't need to make 0 mistakes to win, you only need to make less than your opponent.
Player evolution
Finally, the evolution of a poker player is basically mastery of all the above and more. At it's very core, poker is basically hand-range analysis and mathematics. You evaluate villain's range given his actions thus far, and what is range will be if you check/call/bet/raise, and pick the option that yields the most EV for you. If I had to recommend one "progression" path, it would be something like this :
- Start out very tight in all positions. Raise only AQ+ 99+ in early and middle position and add AJ/KQ in late position and only continue if you hit top pair or better postflop. At NL2, this should be plenty enough to grind out a good profit.
- Start by opening up on the button. When nobody raised, open up to 20% of your hands and see how it goes (all pocket pairs, all suited aces, any 2 broadway cards). Add a few simple, basic bluffs to your range. When you raise preflop and miss the flop, try a cbet of 2/3 of the pot even if you miss, especially in position.
- As you get more comfortable, open up on the cut-off as well. Try opening up to 15% of your hands there and see how it goes. You can try adding more hands on the button as well. Focus on putting villains on a range and try the occasional small bluff-raise when you detect weakness.
- Once you're more comfortable with your game and your bankroll, buy a hand-tracking software like Pokertracker or Hold'em manager. Having stats to analyze opponent stats is crucial to multi-tabling and is a tremendous help.
- Once you're mastered all this, you're ready to move on to more advanced concepts, tools that will be covered in a future Q&A :)
The more comfortable you get, the more you'll be able to add hands in your ranges and the more tools you'll have. The more options you have in your toolbox, the better equipped you will be to face the various situations you'll find yourself in at the tables. Anyway, this is already getting pretty long and I hope i've done a good job of getting right to the essentials without being overwhelming. As usual, feel free to post questions in the thread. Good luck at the tables!
You might be wondering "who is this guy?" In short, a Supernova budding Small Stakes player that enjoys writing about poker and interacting with the community. For those who are interested in learning more about me and my progress, you can follow me right here on my blog. If you want to participate in a Q&A-Workshop, send me a PM with the following :
- Your poker progress (when did you start playing, what stakes you're playing, how you are doing)
- Your poker challenges (situations you find difficult, both on and off the tables, spots you're unsure of, various types of villains that give you trouble)
- Your poker goals (what do you want out of poker, what's the next step you're working on as a poker player). If you have 1-2 hands that gave you trouble, you can include them as well.
The goal here is simply to expand/simplify CoTWs and basically make them more accessible & personalized. I also think the Q&A format will make it easier to adress the real issues and challenges that micro players face, as we tend to take many strategies for granted as we move up. Finally, i'd like to divide my answers into two sections ; the quick fix & the more detailed explanation. If you just want to plug that leak or get a fast, pragmatic explanation to your problem, use the quick fix. If you want to take the difficulty up a notch, go with the detailed explanation. However, this particular Workshop is so vast that i'll be going with a more pragmatic, direct approach to every topic.
Q&A-Workshop #2
Hey! Getting right on to subject -
poker progress
*long, but explains importance of concentrated info in a way
I started playing with thoughts about moving up in stakes over time about 5 months ago. I played by following FPcoach (FPCoach is a simple "training wheels" free web app created by Athene (Chiren80) and is basically a simple, basic guide that you can follow to the letter to beat NL2 and can be found at his poker community site, friendly poker :http://friendlyp.ning.com/page/fpcoach-1) for ~2months showing ~125 BI profit by grinding 24 tables @ NL2. I desperately wanted to move up in stakes, started playing NL5 and it seemed much different. At 2NL, it wasn't uncommon to see all-ins with any two cards with a lot of people playing a lot of hands preflop. At 5NL, those all-ins seem much rarer and people also play a lot tighter preflop. I started looking for ways to improve my play and got lost in the immense amount of information available - read 2 harrington on holdem books, but in the end I didnt remember almost anything of it excluding psychology, and some articles I read/videos I watched also gave me some good info but I didn't know how the best way to use it.
Btw just now thanks to this I found COTW on 2+2, I think I will study it similiar to you and school subjects - taking notes.
After that, I started adding in some NL10 tables in place of some NL2 & NL5 tables. I also applied some things I had read about like raising flop cbet vs 1 player roughly 50-60% in all three stakes although I realized it's not that good to bluff in the micro NL2 and NL5 stakes I play.
I slowly lost ~ 20 BI's @ NL10 by my estimates (not including rake) using these things, stepped down to NL2 & NL5 and then raised my bankroll to the point where it was after 2 months of play and where I am now, by playing NL2 and NL5 again (all that in ~1month), then I stopped playing poker for a long while. Now I came back and i'm just grinding NL2 again.
poker challenges
There are quite a lot of situations where I dont know what would be the GTO play (Game Theoritically Optimal). Some of those spots include, but aren't limited to :
* Playing pocket pairs. For example I always folded my TT to a cbet on flop with lower cards. After that, I tried raising or 3betting in similiar spots and at first, I was amazed to see it working so well;
* Finding table balance. Adding NL10 tables to my 24-table setup when I was just starting at that limit tables wasnt good. Table selecting during play (how to concentrate on table selection when you're already paying attention to your own tables)
* Drawing. For example I raise the flop with a multi-draw with intention to go all-in, but then I have to fold on the turn because of bad odds (not including implied odds). What's a good turn play with these draws?
* How to use implied odds. I practically never use them to estimate whether to make call or not
* A general understanding of things like position - one thing I hear often is "you can call in this spot because you will be in position on the flop". How can I tell when I will be given action first? And how does that affect preflop play? I usually fold low suited connectors to a raise because the price is too high, not because I will be out of position on the flop.
* Improving concentration - Mind Flow (http://themindflow.com/) helped a bit but I still tend to make silly mistakes in poker (and in other things too).
* How the average player evolves as the stakes go up - being more aggresive pre-flop is not the only alteration to be made etc.
poker goals
Becoming a Supernova would be absolutely amazing to say the least. In the short term, my goal is to play NL10 profitably, to study COTWs and hopefully to be able to use the information on a daily basis so I can finally move up without being scared.
GL!
Wow, this is quite a mouthful and touches on a ton of different subjects, all of which could be a Q&A-Workshop on its own. However, i'll try to go over everything by really boiling it down to the essentials so you can apply it to your game right away.
First of all, I want to mention something about your up-and-down progress ; this is completely normal. I say this because it's so easy to watch some of the super succesful players and think that if you don't succeed right away, you're a poker failure. Nothing could be further from the truth, and I would bet quite a lot that the vast majority of succesful small stakes players and above went to this process many, many times before making it.
If you read about some of the extremely succesful men and women in any undertaking (business, acting, etc.), you'll see that more often than not, those people had to deal with a lot of failures before making it big, something we really don't hear or read about very often. Thus, keep your chin up and keep grinding. As long as you're determined to study and play well, success is guarenteed.
Player tightness in NL2 vs NL5
You mentionned one big difference between NL2 and NL5 ; player tightness. There's basically two ways to make money in poker. Having the best hand at showdown (value), or making people fold (bluff). When people are playing a lot of hands and getting to showdown very often, then playing premium hands only is a surefire way to make profits. In the loose NL2 games, this is the best strategy to adopt (tons of value betting, very little bluffs).
At the other end of the spectrum would be the hyper-tight guys who only play AK/QQ+. These guys are playing so tight that it becomes super profitable to raise ATC when you're playing against them (tons of bluffing, and only value betting when you have a supremely good hand). Those players are very rare, but if you find one, don't be afraid to steal their blinds very aggressively.
In most games however, you'll find players in the middle of these two extremes. The better the player, the more balanced your bets will have to be (need a proper balance between value and bluffs). At NL5, more players understand that playing tight preflop is good, so you'll have to adapt accordingly. As a rule of thumb, it's never wrong to tighten up yourself. Playing AJ in early position is great if people will call with A2-AT (like many people at NL2) but if the tight players are only calling with AQ-AK, you're going to be in trouble.
You should also limp a lot less since raises are more likely. At the loose and passive NL2 games, it might be profitable to limp many hands, even in early or mid position, because many people will limp behind you, giving you good odds to hit your hand. If the players at NL5 are tighter and more aggressive, you should limp a lot less yourself or you're going to face a lot of raises you simply cannot call with weak hands. So if you change only one thing preflop, tighten up significantly in early and middle position and limp a lot less, if ever.
Thinking in terms of ranges/continuation ranges & why are you betting?
This is such a huge concept that it's going to be hard to sum up quickly, but I think it's a core piece of the answer to your questions here. A range is the hands an opponent can have in a certain spot. For example, if villain is raising 8% of his hands in early position, we can assume that if he raises UTG, his range looks something like this :
AA-88, AK-AJ, KQ
His continuation range is what he will continue with if he faces a bet. For example, if we reraise him, his continuation range might be :
AA-QQ, AK
This is a VERY important concept that is often misunderstood. For example, if you have JJ, you're ahead of his raising range. If he went all-in with his whole range against your re-raise, then you would be correct to call because you have 54% equity with JJ. However, if you reraise and he tightens up to only AA-QQ and AK, your JJ is not looking very good with only 36% equity.
This is so important that I want to emphasize this again ; when you're looking at a pretty good hand that's likely ahead of villain's range, don't bet automatically. Always ask yourself this ; if I bet here, what will villain continue with? Will he continue with a lot of weaker hands or will he fold everything I beat and only continue with hands that beat me? If you're not familiar with this stuff, it may be confusing at first so don't be shy about asking questions if you need more explanations.
By reading your questions, it seems likely that you haven't mastered thinking about ranges/continuation ranges. This is normal and takes a while to develop. However I can't give you direct answers to your more elaborate questions because it depends on so many factors. Instead of giving you a fish, i'll do my best to teach you how to fish.
Raising cbets
First of all, I highly recommend you never try to apply something in poker without knowing why you're doing it, especially if it's a play that seems uncommon or risky. Raising cbets 50-60% of the time is a good example of that ; what are you trying to accomplish? Remember that in poker, we're almost always betting for one of two reasons (for value, or as a bluff) and as a rule of thumb, we mostly want to bet for value and bluff occasionally for balance.
If you're raising 50-60% of cbets, that means that a very high % of the time, you're raising complete air. This is bad in any situations, but it's a particularly expensive play at the micros since people don't fold very often. At the smallest stakes, I would recommend raising for value only. If you have a really solid hand and villain is likely to continue with worse, then raise. Don't raise-bluff much, if ever. Remember that you only need to raise-bluff to balance your value and that balance is defense. If villain calls a ton and rarely folds, why bluff?
Playing pocket pairs
This is basically impossible to cover in a short post but here's the gist of it : small pocket pairs (22-77) mostly rely on set value. The cheaper you can see the flop the better. If preflop raises are very rare, then consider limping with those hands. If preflop raises are common, then tighten up and just fold them in early/mid position and look to raise yourself in late position if everybody folded to you.
For beginners, I recommend you play 88-JJ exactly the same way as 22-77 preflop. The reason behind this is that although they have more value postflop, those mid-pocket pairs can be really tricky to play postflop and it's very easy to make expensive mistakes with them. Thus, if you're not sure how to maneuver complex postflop decisions, you're much better off playing them exactly like 22-77 and only continue if you hit your set. Tight is right and it's much better to sacrifice a small amount of EV than to spew massively postflop.
Finally QQ-AA should be played very aggressively for value. Against most people you can reraise and shove QQ-AA preflop. Be careful about QQ though, especially if the reraiser is very tight. Nothing wrong with folding QQ preflop if the reraiser is so tight that he's only reraising KK/AA.
I really can't do justice to this subject in a few short paragraphs but my goal here is to help you patch up your game and if you follow the above, you should be ok preflop. For postflop play, I would recommend playing 22-99 purely for set value. If you hit your set, bet and raise and look to get all-in on all but extremely dangerous boards (4-straight or 4-flush on the board). With TT-AA, look to bet/raise and get all-in against loose opponents if you have an overpair. Against tight opponents, be careful, especially with TT-QQ, since a raise from a tight opponent usually means 2 pairs or better. Pocket pairs can be some of the trickiest hands to play well postflop, especially out of position, so until you have a very solid understanding of ranges, continuation ranges and opponent tendencies, stick to the "tight is right" strategy.
Table balance
Here's my rule regarding the number of tables ; if you're routinely in medium/big pots with marginal hands, with no idea what to do and how you got there or why, you're playing too many tables. Focus on quality and speed will come naturally. This is especially true when you're first moving up to a new stake because you need to build your confidence and get an idea of how people are playing.
Also, never underestimate the importance of table selection. At NL2, most tables are filled with loose players so table selection doesn't matter much. However, the higher you move up in stakes, the more important table selection becomes. Obviously, you want loose tables filled with fish. However, table selection works both ways ; finding fish is good, but avoiding tough regs will also improve the quality of your tables. If you don't like the players at your table, for whatever reason (is a good player constantly reraising you? is someone playing in a way you don't understand and is giving you trouble?), then leave the table and find another one.
Draws
This is another group of hand that can be tough to play and is another huge subject on its own. When you have a good draw (flush draw or open-ended straight draw), there's two important things you need to figure out ; fold equity against your opponent(s) and implied odds. If you bet/raise, will your opponent fold? This is your fold equity, and the more likely villain is to fold, the more you should consider betting/raising with your draw. If villain is very loose, as is likely at the low stakes, then consider checking or calling instead.
Check for a free card, or call if you're getting a good price. The looser your opponent, the better your implied odds. This means even if you're not getting the proper price (roughly 4-to-1 for a flush draw on the next card), you can call a bet if your loose opponent will give you action on further streets. Unfortunately there's no recipe for this and fold equity/implied odds are very villain-dependant. At the low stakes however, you should always assume your fold equity is low and your implied odds are high as a rule of thumb. Don't vastly overestimate your implied odds, but as long as you reasonably stick to that you should be allright.
Position
Poker is war, and in war you want all the advantages you can get. Here are the three main advantages in poker :
Hand strength
Skill edge
Position
Position is simply one of three advantages you can have over your opponent. Basically, if you are skilled and have position, you can play more hands (weaker hand strength) and leverage your skill and position to make up for it. That's why you'll often hear advice such as "play more hands in position". Skill edge is a big factor however, so make sure you have a good grip on your opponent before calling raises, even in position.
For example, if your opponent is loose and will give plenty of action, consider calling with low pocket pairs in position to setmine. Plenty of speculative hands with decent high-card strength are also fine to play in position, especially against villain who raise a lot of hands in mid/late position. Hands like ATs, KTs, QJs, JTs, etc are all good enough hands when you have position on your side. However, don't play trash or weak speculative hands like 45s unless you have a solid grip on your opponent : (will he fold easily if I raise postflop? or will he give me so much action that I can rely on flushes and straights to make up for those times I miss). Notice that without a good reason to play those hands, you should fold them. It's very hard for me to go in-depth about position in such an abstract way, so feel free to ask more precise questions if something is amiss.
Concentration
I don't think there is one right way to go about it. A healthy lifestyle, balance between work & recovery, fitness, mind exercices like Mindflow, everything can work. Most of it is common sense, and the rest is up to you. The best way to get it right is to test out new things and see how they work out, a process i'm still engaged in actively to this day.
Personally, fitness, healthy eating and a proper sleeping schedule goes a long way. Time off, a balanced lifestyle and recovery time also help tremendously. The most important thing to remember is don't beat yourself up. Making mistakes is the price we pay for learning, everybody makes them and mistake-free play is impossible, so don't feel bad if you're making mistakes. Instead, try to learn from every one of them and think of ways to make less of them in the future. Remember also that poker is a battle of mistakes, so you don't need to make 0 mistakes to win, you only need to make less than your opponent.
Player evolution
Finally, the evolution of a poker player is basically mastery of all the above and more. At it's very core, poker is basically hand-range analysis and mathematics. You evaluate villain's range given his actions thus far, and what is range will be if you check/call/bet/raise, and pick the option that yields the most EV for you. If I had to recommend one "progression" path, it would be something like this :
- Start out very tight in all positions. Raise only AQ+ 99+ in early and middle position and add AJ/KQ in late position and only continue if you hit top pair or better postflop. At NL2, this should be plenty enough to grind out a good profit.
- Start by opening up on the button. When nobody raised, open up to 20% of your hands and see how it goes (all pocket pairs, all suited aces, any 2 broadway cards). Add a few simple, basic bluffs to your range. When you raise preflop and miss the flop, try a cbet of 2/3 of the pot even if you miss, especially in position.
- As you get more comfortable, open up on the cut-off as well. Try opening up to 15% of your hands there and see how it goes. You can try adding more hands on the button as well. Focus on putting villains on a range and try the occasional small bluff-raise when you detect weakness.
- Once you're more comfortable with your game and your bankroll, buy a hand-tracking software like Pokertracker or Hold'em manager. Having stats to analyze opponent stats is crucial to multi-tabling and is a tremendous help.
- Once you're mastered all this, you're ready to move on to more advanced concepts, tools that will be covered in a future Q&A :)
The more comfortable you get, the more you'll be able to add hands in your ranges and the more tools you'll have. The more options you have in your toolbox, the better equipped you will be to face the various situations you'll find yourself in at the tables. Anyway, this is already getting pretty long and I hope i've done a good job of getting right to the essentials without being overwhelming. As usual, feel free to post questions in the thread. Good luck at the tables!
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